South Africa: Government condemns anti-LGBT violence following attack

by  
TW: anti-gay beating, violence
The South African government condemned anti-gay violence after a gay man was attacked near Cape Town
The South African Government has stated its opposition to anti-LGBT violence, following an attack on a gay man in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, which left him missing part of one ear. Lunga Voko, 23, was stripped and beaten by a group of men who followed him in a car on March 31, on his way home from celebrating his birthday.

“They got out of the car and started asking me questions like why I’m a moffie (gay man), but I wouldn’t answer them,” he told the South African Times. “The next thing one of the guys slapped me and another attacked me with an iron rod, while the others gathered half bricks.”

Mr Voko lost consciousness during the attack, but witnesses reported that his assailants stripped him to see if he was circumcised. One man then pulled out a gun and shot at Mr Voko, tearing part of his ear off. He was taken to Groote Schuur Hospital and later discharged. He claims that police were initially unwilling to help him, but that they eventually tracked the car’s license plate. Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams said yesterday: “Government condemns in the strongest terms possible and reiterates its commitment to fight all forms of hate crimes perpetrated against lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and inter-sex people in South Africa.

“As government we are committed to fight all forms of crime, including violence against gay and lesbian people. The South African Police Service are currently investigating the case and we are confident that justice shall prevail.”

myqueertestimony:

Testimony by SOUTH AFRICAN LESBIANS, South Africa

Film titled: “Road to Pride-Trailer”

Directors/Producers:Inger Smith & Lesedi Mogoatlhe

About:

This documentary is both a literal and symbolic journey on the “Road to Pride”, as the filmmakers embark on a quest to find out how South African lesbians are enjoying the fruits of a progressive constitution in the New South Africa. 2010.

View the full film here: http://buskfilms.com/films/road-to-pride/

South African Activist Murdered in Hate Crime

(TW: hate crime, graphic violence, genital mutilation)

Thapelo Makutle, a drag queen known as Queen Bling, was found dead and mutilated in a rented room on Saturday.

BY Julie Bolcer

An activist identified as a gay transgender man was killed in an apparent hate crime, the latest in a series of such incidents in South Africa. The Associated Press reports on Thapelo Makutle, who was found dead and with throat cut in a rented room in Kuruma in northwestern South Africa on Saturday. Police are investigating the crime as a murder. Jabu Pereira of the local LGBT rights group LEGBO told the AP that the lack of any theft and the appearance of the mutilated body suggested a hate crime, which would carry an enhanced penalty. “Makutle’s body was found under a blanket with his throat cut and tongue removed, Pereira said. His genitals were also cut off and put in his mouth, witnesses told Pereira.”

Pink News reports that Makutle, whom the police report said was 23 years old, identified as gay and transgender. The victim had recently been crowned Miss Gay Kuruman and was a drag queen known as Queen Bling. Makutle also volunteered for LEGBO. A memorial service is scheduled for Friday afternoon and local gay activists are planning a protest. News 24 reports that there have been at least 15 attacks against gay and lesbian people in the area in the past three months, and activists believe the police response has been weak. Shaine Griqua, director of LEGBO, said that a lesbian had been brutally murdered within the past month.

To read the full article, click the link above. Again, trigger warning for: details of graphic violence - including genital mutilation.

South Africa Instead Wanted The UN Human Rights Council To ‘Study’ Sexual Orientation

Rather than join with the United States and some 84 other countries in support of a non-binding statement (“Ending Acts of Violence and Related Human Rights Violations Based On Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity”) that seeks to end anti-LGBT violence and criminalization, South Africa — which protects sexual orientation at the constitutional level — instead proposed a resolution that would study “new concepts such as sexual orientation.”

Well, that’s what South Africa’s Human Rights Council ambassador Jerry Matjila did at first, anyhow; he later agreed to the statement.

South Africa: Overhaul Information Bill

rightsandhumanity:

(Johannesburg) - South Africa should substantially revise the proposed Protection of Information Bill, which is overly broad and vague and would promote secrecy over transparency, Human Rights Watch said in a letter today. The letter was sent to the chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Protection of Information Legislation, which is charged with reviewing the bill as it is considered by the parliament.

The bill, introduced in March 2010, would repeal South Africa’s 1982 Protection of Information Act and “regulate the manner in which information may be protected.” It has generated intense criticism by South African civil society groups concerned about the increased level of government secrecy the bill would allow. In response to these concerns, C.V. Burgess, the ad hoc committee chairman, indicated in early November that he would conduct a thorough review of the bill, with a view to narrowing its scope.

“The current draft of the bill threatens free speech, transparency, and accountability, and in fact South Africa’s democracy,” said Sipho Mthathi, South Africa director at Human Rights Watch, who participated in Right to Know, the civil society campaign. “Access to information is essential to public participation and to good governance.”

In October, the state security minister, Siyabonga Cwele, had defended the bill to the committee, contending that it complied with international human rights standards on freedom of expression and information. Many legal experts, however, say the bill violates both the South African Constitution and international treaties to which South Africa is a party.

Human Rights Watch urged Mr. Burgess and the committee to adhere to the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, rules developed by experts and endorsed by the United Nations. The principles require national security laws to be accessible and unambiguous, with specific narrow categories of information that could be withheld only to protect a legitimate national security interest.

Under these principles, South Africa’s government would have to demonstrate in any specific instance in which information was to be withheld that it was using the least restrictive means possible and would have to make the public interest in the information a primary consideration. They would also require adequate safeguards against abuse, including prompt, full and effective scrutiny of the validity of the restriction by an independent court or tribunal.

Read more…

ACTION ALERT!!

neutresex:

Here’s a petition link that specifically targets South Africa (the only African nation that recognizes the legal relationship of same-sex couples) who joined a list of mostly African countries that made pro-exclusionary votes removing LGBTQ persons from protection from extrajudicial killing during a UN general assembly.

(via thehopeharvest)

Source: tranqualizer

Pastor: "Jesus Was HIV-Positive"

Pastor Xola Skosana x390 (fair, no credit) | ADVOCATE.COM

A pastor in South Africa has shocked churchgoers with a series of sermons claiming Jesus was HIV-positive.  

“Today I will start with a three-part sermon on: Jesus was HIV-positive,” Xola Skosana said in a recent Sunday service in Cape Town, in a move intended to fight the stigma surrounding the virus.

Read more on Skosana’s service on HIVPlusMag.com.

Caster Semenya officially cleared to compete! (ABOUT TIME!) The International Association for Athletics Federations officially cleared 19-year-old South African runner Caster Semenya for competition in the women’s division. After 11 months of “gender testing” the world champion runner’s clearance takes “immediate effect,” reports the Associated Press.  The test results will remain confidential and the matter of her gender will not be questioned again. She will begin her comeback in Europe before competing at the African championships in Kenya, which begin July 28. Source: http://www.365gay.com/uncategorized/wed-watercooler-gaga-ows-nyc-semenya-off-running/
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Caster Semenya officially cleared to compete! (ABOUT TIME!)

The International Association for Athletics Federations officially cleared 19-year-old South African runner Caster Semenya for competition in the women’s division.

After 11 months of “gender testing” the world champion runner’s clearance takes “immediate effect,” reports the Associated Press. 

The test results will remain confidential and the matter of her gender will not be questioned again. She will begin her comeback in Europe before competing at the African championships in Kenya, which begin July 28.

Source: http://www.365gay.com/uncategorized/wed-watercooler-gaga-ows-nyc-semenya-off-running/

Disbarred ‘Ex-Gay’ Richard Cohen Exports His Scam to South Africa

There are groups in South Africa which are claiming to be able to “cure” gay people, as though human sexual orientation and gender identity is some form of disease or “lifestyle choice“. Their attack on human rights and freedom of expression comes ENTIRELY from the perspective of religious conservatism and fundamentalism and has no basis in fact, reality, science or medicine whatsoever.

They claim we are “broken“, burdened with “unwanted SSA” (that’s “Same Sex Attraction”) that we are somehow in need of their intervention, and so they believe that the same God that made us gay, bisexual or trans, has duly appointed them the moral guardians to rush to our aid and to save us from our sinful natures.